2006 World Championships   More World Championship news       Tournament info: China

What the coaches say in China

Ningbo, China, August. 2, 2005 - Coaches of participating teams at the World Championship tournament first round Asian Group A made predictions on the event before the competition starts here on Tuesday.

Asia's first round tournament of the World Championship, which is scheduled to be held in Japan from October 31-November 16 next year, draws China, Chinese Taipei, Australia, Uzbekistan and Jordan, who will vie for two berths in the finals of the quadrennial event.

"No doubt we will try our utmost to gain qualification," said Chen Zhonghe, the Chinese head coach who led his team to back-to- back victories in the World Cup in 2003 and the Athens Olympics last year.
Pic: China coach Chen Zhonghe
"In light of our mediocre performance in the World Grand Prix finals, I will reshuffle our starting line-up and change our tactics somewhat," he added.

China, which had been heavily favored to win the World Grand Prix finals last month, finished a disappointing third after losing to Cuba and Italy at the six-team event. Chen attributed his side's losses to the pressures resulting from their Olympic glory. "We must forget about yesterday's achievement the and start from scratch," he said.

Australia's coach Jiang Ying said China would be in a class of its own in Ningbo while the rest teams have to battle for the other slot in the world Championship.

"China will for sure qualify, simply because they are too strong, " said Jiang Ying, a former player of the Chinese nationa lteam in the 1980s. "What we can do is try to qualify as the second-placed team."

The coaches of Jordan and Uzbeskitan echoed Jiang's view.

"It is a good opportunity to play with such great teams like China and Australia. We don't have very high expectations," Jordan coach Zahran Fawwaz said through an interpreter.

"Chinese players are very good, and they are the Olympic champion. My team is very young and we need to learn from them," said Uzbekistan coach Leonid Ayrapetyants.